20 Lire – Vatican City

In 1983, Vatican City's currency situation was fundamentally defined by two key international agreements: the Lateran Treaty of 1929 with Italy and a subsequent monetary convention with the Italian Republic. The Lateran Treaty granted the Holy See the right to issue its own coinage, a sovereign privilege exercised through the Vatican City State. However, for practical economic integration, a 1930 Monetary Convention established that Vatican lire were legal tender within Italy and the Republic of San Marino, and vice-versa. This created a fixed, one-to-one parity between the Vatican lira and the Italian lira, effectively making the Vatican's currency a nationally distinct but economically dependent subset of the Italian monetary system.

The practical issuance of currency in 1983 was governed by a revised monetary convention signed with Italy in 1979. This agreement strictly limited the annual minting of Vatican coinage based on the state's perceived numismatic and internal needs, capping the face value at a set number of billion lire per year. The coins, minted by Italy's Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato, were primarily intended for collectors and tourists, serving as important sources of revenue and as vehicles of papal iconography. While legal tender, Vatican coins rarely circulated in everyday commerce within Italy; their value often exceeded their face value due to their collectible status, especially following the death of a pope or the start of a new pontificate.

Therefore, in 1983, the Vatican had no independent monetary policy or separate paper currency. It used Italian banknotes for all larger transactions, while its own minted coins held a dual identity as both functional currency (at par with the Italian lira) and sovereign commemorative objects. This arrangement ensured the Vatican's seamless participation in the Italian economy while symbolically upholding its sovereignty, a delicate balance maintained until the introduction of the Euro in 2002, which required a new set of agreements.